


Midnight Haze

by MistyEyedCrow



Series: Misty's Complete Collection of One-shots [12]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Impulse is hurting from the lack of Ren's campfire songs, Mic drop, Reminiscing, Sad boi hours, also in my mind the hippies are s o f t, and that's why his base is in the middle of literal nowhere!, and the forest life!, he misses the hippies!, just kidding this is just me being sad about the camps I won't have for a while, like I love campfires so much they're the best place in the world, omg i just remembered the song 500 miles help im sobbing, so the hippies have a lot of campfires in my mind whoops, the campfire song one not the other one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24330931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistyEyedCrow/pseuds/MistyEyedCrow
Summary: The hippies were just another storyline, another project between them. Many months have passed since those simpler times, and many new crazy things have happened since then. The hippies have all moved on, or so they thought.Impulse still yearned to go back.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Misty's Complete Collection of One-shots [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996384
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	Midnight Haze

His base in this world was huge. It was ambitious, took him hours of grinding just to get it to the stage that it was. And yet, no matter how high or wide he built up the structure, it wasn't enough. Wasn't enough to fill his time with mindless work. Wasn't enough to distract him from the thoughts.

Wasn't enough to fill in the cracks left behind by the memories of their previous world.

His mind was filled with flashes of the times he had in the hippie camp every time he took a break, remembering the little things from back then. Every time his head hit his pillow, he could almost hear the peaceful sounds of nature, always painfully aware of how big, how empty and cold his base felt. Quiet too, void of the music Ren had put on for them with a wide smile, mixing tracks that filled them with warmth even on the coldest nights. It was such a juxtaposition, his huge base, and the humble RV he had built back then. His base now was more luxurious, grander than the little clearing they'd built in for themselves. Still, he didn't know why his mind always wandered back to that camp against his wishes.

Maybe it was the easy way their lives suddenly revolved around each other and their mission, how quickly they became friends. Like it was always meant to be. He had never really gotten to know Grian or Ren, until they had sat around the campfire, music flowing around them as they laughed well into the night. Sure, he had talked with them before, they weren't complete strangers, but it was never quite like it was in the hippie camp. There, it was welcoming in ways he never expected, and it had left a warm tingling in his heart.

If it weren't for those nights, he would never have guessed that Ren's voice was as good as his guitar skills, or that Grian was an amazing cook. Really, if he thought about it, he never really knew any of the other hermits as well as he knew Tango and Zedaph. Until he joined the hippies, threw himself so deep into a project like that, he had lived up to their group's name. Lived mostly in solitude, though he was friendly with everyone on the server.

The hippies brought out a part of him he never thought he would show past his closest friends, gave him a place to feel freely under the twinkling stars. Even under the scrutiny of Area 77, and the constant watching from the other side, it was the only place he felt like himself away from the ZIT team. He missed the feeling of laying in bed, hearing the other two walk around in their RVs before turning in for the night. Missed the careless smiles and the nights sleeping in the same bed, blocking out the sounds of thunder from the rolling storms with their own breathless laughter.

It wasn't like he fell in love with Ren or Grian, but he did love them a lot more than he did before. They made him feel at home, trusted him so easily and freely it made his head spin. He loved them as brothers, as friends who would watch each other's back no matter what. They formed a bond, after all, as the hippies.

But then, it ended as quickly as it began.

Something had changed when they emerged from the time machine, back from the frightful adventure into the past. Something changed when Doc and Scar opened Area 77 as an amusement park, much to False's and the hippie's shock. It wasn't an instant change, really, but he knew that was the breaking point.

Without any other reason to exist, the hippies disbanded.

Impulse had stayed mostly quiet as the three discussed the future of the campsite. Grian wanted to mimic their former oppressors, open the hippie camp as an amusement park. Ren didn't seem to want to go through that much trouble, suggested they just left it as it was, a campsite frozen in time, the barest hint of life in the lands. The only thing they really decided unanimously was that it was time to move out.

He had readily agreed, but his heart lost a bit of the warmth it had living in the camp. What would happen to them now, without the music or the simplistic life they had lived for the past few months? What would become of their friendship? The easy smiles that Grian and Ren had shot him during their talks did soothe his worries, but the thoughts still lingered at the back of his mind. Never really disappeared.

The first night away was the worst. Tango was out there traveling the world, and Impulse didn't have the heart to find Zedaph just because he couldn't sleep. He remembered laying in his bed, the faint howls of his wolves only reminding him of how the moon looked from his bed through the window in his RV. He didn't sleep a wink that night, but he stubbornly refused to ponder about why as he quickly threw himself into another project the next morning.

His hippie crown still lay at the bottom of his ender chest, dried up and broken in places. He couldn't bring himself to get rid of it.

After the hippies came Demise. It was a great distraction, really, gave him something else to worry about instead of his own thoughts. Still, when he looked up from his work to see Grimdog watching from afar, his expression hidden behind a hood, worlds apart, he could not hold back the twinge of sadness in his heart. It was all an act, his mind knew, but the distance between him and Ren's stone-cold expression stretched with every passing second, his smile falling.

The blackness in those eyes didn't even flinch, just watching for a moment longer before leaving as quietly as he arrived.

Time in the server passed quickly once he himself had died in a bid to escape the pain in his heart. Tango had pursed his lips but said nothing as they both trapped themselves to join the dead. Even as part of the dead team, heart unnaturally still from the magic of demise, he couldn't escape the thoughts, the almost instinctual glances towards Ren's crypt. It felt worse than before.

Tango, bless him, tried his best to offer up distractions, gave him work to do in their deadquarters. Still, whenever he stopped for a break, he just wondered when it would all be over. And when it was finally over, the feelings of missing something flooded back so painfully that he stumbled, mind racing as he left the meeting before anyone noticed. Never noticing the two pairs of eyes tracking his movement out.

Working with Grian on Iskall's death was torture.

He knew Grian didn't mean anything. Grian never meant to cause real pain to others, but his heart beat faster when he heard of the storyline Grian wrote. The builder and the redstoner, so domestic it hurt. It wasn't for him, but the way Grian babbled on as they worked, the way he fussed over Impulse's costume, it all brought him back many months into the hippie days. Remembered how Grian leaned up to his toes, carefully arranging the flower crown on his head and proudly proclaiming him a hippie. Remembered the tender smile he sent back.

He forced on a smile and faced that week with Grian headfirst, trying hard to disconnect himself from the memories with the other. If Grian could move on so easily, so could he. He had been with the group longer, he knew what it was like, surely. Still, when the project was complete, as Grian excitedly dialed for Iskall to arrive, he felt some part of his die in resignation. Just like before.

He had a feeling Iskall knew more than he let on, pausing to give him a once-over look with a glint in his mechanical eye, before getting into the prepared minecart. He did his best to follow the script, hoping his eyes didn't seem too watery as he watched Grian deliver the killing blow. If anyone has asked, it was because he was proud of that week's work, which was technically true.

After that whole journey, it all ended as quickly as it began, again. Impulse could only wonder how many more times it would be that way.

Now, even in a new world, he couldn't stop thinking about the camp. It was why he was here now, sat at the highest point of his base, feet dangling high over the waters. Another sleepless night, an intense longing for the past, feelings of nostalgia stirring in his heart as he looked up to the sky. The stars flashed kindly down on him, stirring the memories of another him, looking at the same sky in the past. If he closed his eyes, he could almost go back in time to a memory deeply etched into his mind.

_"Do you know what constellation that is, Impulse?" Grian turned his head to look at him, wearing a soft smile. The light from the dying fire shined brightly against his newest flower crown._

_"No." He answered simply._

_"Pity." Grian hummed softly, looking back up at the sky with the same smile. "I like it when it reflects off your eyes. I want to remember tonight forever."_

_"That's the big dipper. Look, it points to the north if you follow that line over there..." Impulse closed his eyes, letting Ren's explanations and Grian's excited answers wash smoothly over him, a content smile spreading across his face._

Opening back his eyes, a ghost of a smile on his lips, he lowered his gaze to the shopping district on the horizon. Saw the neon lights still flashing from the shops that never closed, bright with so much life. Distantly, he wondered if any of the hippies were pulling an all-nighter, working on their own project like they used to. Wondered if any of them still thought of him like he thought of them.

With a sigh, he averted his gaze, realising he had let time slip past his fingers again. It seemed to happen often, these days. Breaking the peace he had found on that ledge, he forced himself to stand, climbing down the side of his base to where he knew he left his bed at.

The walk back felt worse that his journey out, the oppressing chill almost stopping him from walking any further. Still, he forced himself to approach the single bed, getting into it whilst distantly wishing that he had lived closer to his neighbours, Tango and Zedaph. At least then the nights would have been a little less lonely.

He lay down on his side, pulling the blanket tightly over himself, If he lay underneath it, he could almost imagine himself back in his RV, listening out for the songs of the forest. The gentle lapping sounds of water hitting his walls soothed his soul, an old wariness overtaking his bones as exhaustion took over his mind.

As he closed his eyes, finally, his mind took him back to the warm glow of a campfire and the echoing laughs of his closest strangers.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh juxtaposition, my best friend from my literature days :")
> 
> honestly, these past three weeks managed to leech me dry of any sort of inspiration even as I started watching more and more hermit videos... how is that even possible with the amount of shenanigans they have going on, I have no idea haha
> 
> so to be completely honest, I'm not 100% proud of this. but hey, maybe someone out there would enjoy it? 
> 
> anyway, here's to more productivity soon... hopefully :)
> 
> edit: honestly after I saved this as a draft, I went to shower and had the most brilliant story idea soo look out for that soon! but in the meantime... take this weak apology :")
> 
> edit2: OKAY IM SORRY i need to spread the love for this campfire song in my cca so https://open.spotify.com/track/6oMZhY0f1ReI6AJDDYfuSb?si=n8OipQl0QiOlBx3J-ybHPg


End file.
